MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could reappoint the environment minister who ordered more than half the country’s mines shut down, as Congress appears set to defer a decision on her confirmation.

Duterte has backed a mining crackdown by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez in the world’s top supplier of nickel ore, which has angered miners who seek her removal for decisions they have said were baseless.

“Definitely she will be bypassed,” Senator Manny Pacquiao, the head of the environment committee, told reporters on Thursday at the end of a two-day hearing on the confirmation of Lopez.

Bypassing Lopez means Congress is effectively deferring a decision on her appointment. Such a deferral allows Duterte either to reappoint her to his cabinet, or name someone else.

“She’s leaving tomorrow for America and she can’t attend next week so (she‘s) bypassed,” Pacquiao said. “The president can just reappoint, and then that’s it, it doesn’t need to undergo public hearings.”

Congress goes into recess from March 18 and will only resume sessions in May.

The committee meets again next Tuesday and a mining group hopes its members will be able to vote on Lopez’s fate.

“We’re really hoping they finally resolve this by Tuesday, and that they vote for rejection,” Ronald Recidoro, an official of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, told Reuters.

If Lopez gets reappointed, “we have to fight her again,” at another confirmation hearing, Recidoro added.

In the Philippines, confirmation hearings can take place long after ministers start work. On Wednesday, lawmakers decided to reject Perfecto Yasay as foreign minister, their first dismissal of a member of Duterte’s cabinet.

‘EXTREME IDEOLOGY’

Philippines' Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Regina Lopez gestures as she faces a panel of Commission on Appointment during a hearing at the Senate headquarters in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco